ABANDONED MEMORIES - MaryLu Tyndall - One Free Book

Readers, I read this book last week, and I loved it. As with many series, the last book is the best, but it’s always best if you read the other two in order. You learn the depth of the other two sets of main characters that way. Book one is Forsaken Dreams, the second Elusive Hope.

I’ve loved every MaryLu Tyndall book. She writes exciting stories with lots of twists and turns, then plays them out across an tapestry of vivid setting that is authentic to the time period and place. Her characters are multi-dimensional and always grab my heart.

Welcome back, MaryLu. How did you come up with the idea for this story?

Actually, this is the third and final book in my Escape to Paradise Series, so the storyline flows along from the first two books. The entire series I pitched as LOST meets Gone with the Wind. It’s the story of a group of Southerners who flee after they lost the Civil War and sail for Brazil in the hopes of starting a new Southern Utopia. The overall arching theme is that God predestined each one of them to come to Brazil for a specific task. Each of the six main character’s lives are intertwined in ways they could never have predicted but ways which led them to Brazil at a certain time and place for a certain purpose.

Each book follows the romance of two of the characters, and in Abandoned Memories we watch how the Doctor who is terrified of blood falls for the woman with a sordid past. We also find out why God drew the colonists to Brazil and what does it have to do with gold and an evil temple and visions which haunt them. Exciting stuff!

Yes, it is. A book that is hard to put down. If you were planning a party with Christian authors of contemporary fiction, what six people would you invite and why?

Irene Hannon because I recently discovered her great suspense books

Ronie Kendig. Love love love her military suspense!

Francine Rivers because I haven’t met a Francine Rivers book I didn’t like

Joel Rosenberg because I’d like to hear his perspective on End Times and Israel

Ted Dekker because he’d definitely add an entertaining element to the party

Camy Tang because she’s just plain cool

Now let’s do that for a party for Christian authors of historical fiction, what six people would you invite and why?

Laurie Alice Eakes because she’s one of the best writers I know

Michelle Gripe because she promised me a sword fight

You because you’re such a sweet encourager!

Julie Lessman because we are twin sisters separated at birth

Laura Frantz because I love her heart for the Lord

Lori Benton because she’s one of my new favorite authors

Thank you for including me in that list with authors I also admire. Many times, people (and other authors) think you have it made with so many books published. What is your most difficult problem with writing at this time in your career?

Many people may not know this but Abandoned Memories is my last contracted book with a traditional publisher. I’ve started self-publishing my books and already have one out, The Ransom, and another in the works. This is a very exciting time for authors because we have so many more choices now than we used to have and a lot more freedom. My most difficult problem I struggle with now is learning the ropes of managing my own career. But, honestly, I’m having fun doing it!

My readers are familiar with The Ransom, because we’ve featured it on the blog already. I loved it as well. Tell us about the featured book.

As I said above, Abandoned Memories is book 3 in my Escape to Paradise series. It isn’t necessary that you read the first two, but I recommend it because all the main characters flow through the three stories. However, I don’t think it would be too hard to catch up with what’s happening. Here’s the back cover blurb.

It is 1866 and the fledgling Confederate colony of New Hope is Angeline Moore’s last chance at a normal life. Running from the law, she longs to make a fresh start in this new Southern Utopia. But a series of strange disasters threaten to destroy everything the colonists have worked for, and strange visions threaten to reveal a past Angeline is desperate to hide.

James Callaway failed at both doctoring and preaching, but he hopes that his move to Brazil will give him another chance to become the spiritual leader he so desires. He longs to create a world free from the immorality that plagued every street corner back home and ruined his life. And he believes Angeline is just the sort of refined woman he needs to keep him on the right track.

But something is amiss in New Hope: haunting visions, the discovery of crypts beneath an ancient temple, and an archaic Hebrew book, set the colonists’ fears on edge. When one of their own is murdered, a series of disasters leads them to believe God has brought them to Brazil to defeat an evil that, if unleashed, could wreak havoc on the entire world.

I especially loved the spiritual warfare aspect of this series. Please give us the first page of the book.

October 18th, 1866 The jungles of Brazil

The ground shook like a ship in a sea squall. Dirt and rocks pelted Angeline ... striking ... stinging. Her heart seized. Covering her head, she spun and staggered back the way she’d come—up toward the tunnel entrance and into the temple, where at least she wouldn’t be buried alive. Unless the roof of the ancient shrine caved in. A violent jolt struck, launching her against the rock wall as if she were made of paper. Pain radiated up her arm. Her legs quivered like the ground beneath them, and she fell onto the shifting dirt.

The hand that engulfed hers was rough like old rope, powerful, yet warm. An equally powerful arm swung around her waist as tremors wracked the tunnels. “Hang on. You’re safe,” James spoke in her ear, covering her head with his own. Pebbles rained down on them. Coughing, Angeline flung a hand to her mouth when the quaking finally stopped.

She drew a deep breath, her lungs filling with dust scented with spice and man and James. And standing there, ensconced in his embrace, fears that had risen so quickly when the ground had begun to shake suddenly vanished. She hated herself for it. She pushed from him. The stench of sulfur and mold instantly swept away his masculine aroma and resurrected her terror.

James stared at her oddly while he said to the men, “I told you we should not have brought the women.”

Brushing dirt from her skirts, Eliza, who stood in front of them with her husband, Blake, turned to face him. “You had no say in it, Doctor. We insisted. Did we not?” She smiled at Angeline. “There’s nothing to fear from a little shaking.”

Angeline wasn’t so sure. But then again, she didn’t possess Eliza’s courage and strength. Few women did. Those qualities, along with a multitude of others, were the reason Angeline admired her friend so much—the reason she’d cast aside her fears and agreed to venture into the eerie temple they’d found in the middle of the Brazilian jungle.

And then down into the tunnels beneath.

Yet at the moment, Eliza looked as if someone had dumped a bucket of chalk powder on her head. If Angeline weren’t so frightened, she’d giggle at the sight. But her alarm at being so far below ground during an earthquake stifled any laughter. She never should have come along. The men had insisted on investigating a loud explosion they’d heard last night that had shaken the ground all the way to their settlement of New Hope. When they feared it came from the temple, Eliza’s concern for Mr. Graves mounted, but now that Angeline had seen the ancient ruin and experienced the stink and heat of the narrow tunnels that spanned beneath it, she wondered why anyone would want to return. Or live here, as Mr. Graves had done since they’d arrived in Brazil.

Mr. Graves was one of the reasons Angeline had joined them today—to witness for herself the madman “digging his way to hell,” according to some of the colonists’ reports. Exaggerated reports, she was sure, but after Eliza had regaled her with further tales of gruesome obelisks, prison alcoves hewn in rock, strange Latin and Hebrew inscriptions, and Graves’s obsession with releasing powerful, invisible creatures, Angeline’s curiosity had gotten the best of her—regardless of James’s insistence that she remain in town. Or maybe because of it. Angeline grew tired of men dictating her. Telling her how to live and what to do and how to behave.

And using her like a dried-up commodity.

So, she’d come. And now, despite the heat and the terror and the pain, the look of approval in Eliza’s eyes made it all worth it. Almost.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Website/Blog: http://marylutyndall.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/221955524678618/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLuTyndall

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mltyndall/

Thank you, MaryLu, for sharing this new book with us.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
Abandoned Memories - Christianbook.com
Abandoned Memories: (Escape to Paradise) - Amazon
Abandoned Memories (Escape to Paradise) - Kindle

Christian Book Store

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